Who Are Absolute Taste and What Do We Do?
We are an innovative culinary and customer service provider, dedicated to delivering inspirational food and experiences that redefine customer satisfaction. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for pushing boundaries, we continue to grow from strength to strength.
As a small, dynamic team of event professionals, we specialize in creating exciting, well-managed, and sustainable events, while fostering strong working relationships. We're looking for individuals who share our fun, resilient, and hardworking values to join our supportive, high-performing team.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a highly regarded organisation dedicated to success and a positive, empowering culture.
About The Role
We are seeking an experienced Junior Development Chef with strong Food Service and Hospitality experience. You’ll play a key role in shaping, testing, and elevating dishes that deliver the premium, guest‑focused experience we’re known for.
Work Location: Bicester
As a Junior Development Chef your key responsibilities will be:
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Working with our NPD Head Chef to create new, seasonal menu propositions for our travel clients, considering production, regeneration of the food and shelf-life restrictions
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Ensure all recipes can be produced on a medium to large-scale volume with keeping consistency
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Optimising ingredients and procedures to minimize human inaccuracies
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Work with local suppliers to ensure the sourcing of fresh ingredients for the business
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Supporting with typing up of recipes and costings where required
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Monitor trends and develop recipes in accordance with customer demands and response
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Maintaining the ongoing development of new and existing quality products – working closely with existing and new customers
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Support with taking product from concept to launch with in the operation’s current capabilities
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Basic understanding of food cost, knowledge of high-cost ingredients versus lower costs
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Work closely with production teams across capabilities – taking new products into production as well as assist on existing products – review process and assist with updating process and or problem solving
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Work closely with Procurement, Technical team & commercial team/ account managers
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Conduct Shelf-life testing
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Sample making, as well as always maintain excellent standards in NPD kitchen, you will also be involved in collection of ingredients and day-to-day housekeeping.
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Define, implement, and monitor process to ensure compliance to all health and regulation requirements
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Managing and updating knowledge management systems in line with the quality standards and protocols
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Customer facing - from product presentations to cooking and presenting lunches/ dinners for clients – a natural good host making a mean cup of tea!
What We Are Looking For:
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Min 1 years’ experience as a chef
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Work in fast-paced environment with short lead times
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Ability to work from very specific briefs
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Must be a passionate foodie and have outstanding food knowledge and ability to demonstrate natural flair with a good pallet – basically you must love food and cooking!
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Have the ability to bring whole concepts together as well as working on silo products
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Ability to quickly learn the capabilities of the current operation and work alongside the capabilities when developing products for our demanding customers
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Must have an eye for detail and with good organization skills
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Good all-round knowledge of cuisines from around the world
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Good all-round knowledge of various cooking techniques and production processes
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Up to date with latest food trends and innovative food orientated mindset
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Good communication skills
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Ability to work on own projects as well as part of a team on larger projects
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Problem solving, think on feet
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Computer literate with a working knowledge of Microsoft excel, PowerPoint and word.
Why Join Us at Absolute Taste?
Join a fast-growing and innovative company that is redefining customer experiences in the culinary and event space. We offer an empowering team culture, the opportunity to work on exciting, well-managed events, and a supportive, resilient team environment.
We are committed to supporting your career growth with thorough training and ongoing development.
You can also enjoy benefits such as:
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25 Days holiday + Bank Holiday
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Company Pension Scheme
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Life Assurance
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Employee Wellbeing Program
If you're ready to make an impact in a fast-paced environment and contribute to the success of Absolute Taste, apply today and join our team!
We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.
